Page 5 - National Poultry Newspaper

Maintaining production in the time of coronavirus
Business improvement opportunities from APL
* from P1
ing positively with pigs. It covers how to move pigs in a low-stress way that may result in an improvement in animal welfare and productiv-
own staff for ProHand, oversee their progress during the course and access reports on staff, site and company use.
platform, it is current- ly undergoing testing with the original course developers at the Uni- versity of Melbourne’s Animal Welfare Science Centre.
APL plans to relaunch the ProHand pigs and the ProHand review courses by the end of May, with the ProHand abattoir course to follow in November 2020.
junction with feedback report templates.
These provide data on which conditions exist and the related conse- quences to both produc- ers and processors.
ity.
It is well recognised
While the course has been built on the new
As this project contin- ues, pilots will be run in a larger number of domestic and export ab- attoirs, with case stud- ies to be developed and reporting templates re- fined.
and widely used by Aus- tralian pig farmers and their staff and has been delivered through an on- line system for several years.
It is expected the pro- ject will be completed by March 2021. Maintaining stockper- son productivity – Ra- chael Bryant
Work has been under way at APL to move the current ProHand pigs, abattoir and review courses to a new and im- proved online platform.
ProHand is a course teaching stockpeople in the pork industry how to ensure they are interact-
In addition to hous- ing existing content, the new platform will en- able producers and other industry stakeholders to directly register their
Vaibhav Gole
Nordic
News
by ASHLEY NORVAL
IN Denmark we are now in the initial stages of the gradual reopening process.
is in violation of not only trespassing laws but also National Board of Health laws, though this does not seem to deter them.
The majority of soci- ety remains closed, with younger children return- ing to childcare/schools part-time and some other ‘essential’ services reo- pening in the week of writing (namely hair- dressers and tattoo artists – though I am unsure how exactly these are consid- ered essential!).
Researchers from the State Serum Institute to- gether with the Univer- sity of Copenhagen have mapped different types of coronaviruses in Den- mark, including viruses that occur in wild ani- mals, production animals and pets.
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Up until this point, only grocery stores and phar- macies had been allowed to trade in person.
In a recently released re- port, Anette Bøtner (Pro- fessor and Head of Sec- tion, SSI) has confirmed there is currently no evi- dence that pets nor in- dustrial animals play any role in connection with the spread of COVID-19.
As of next week, some other stores will be al- lowed to begin trade once more.
Additionally, as of this week staff at Danish ‘non- essential’ offices can be- gin to return to work at 50 percent capacity until the planned 100 percent return on May 11.
This message and report is currently being circu- lated around Denmark in response to the animal activist campaigns in an effort to reassure consum- ers of the strict Danish food safety standards and encourage their purchase of Danish produce.
Pig prices have slipped a little in the past few weeks but are holding at a respectable level, with the Danish Crown reporting prices for slaughter pigs of 12.90 DKK per kilogram for week 18 ($A2.93).
In a more positive out- come during an otherwise challenging few months, recent times have seen more engagement be- tween farmers via a pri- vate Facebook group named ‘Grisen’ (pigs).
Thirty kilogram weaner export continues to re- main and operate as nor- mal.
This is a closed group managed by the main Danish farming agricul- tural newspaper and is designed to encourage the debating of professional questions about pig pro- duction and subsequent knowledge transfer be- tween industry members.
Thankfully we have seen no shut-downs of process- ing plants such as that of Smithfield in the US due to mass COVID-19 infec- tions of staff.
However, the managing of staff at both the farm and processing level con- tinues to be a challenge for an industry that relies on a workforce sourced primarily outside Den- mark.
With over 4600 mem- bers, all aspects of pig production are up for dis- cussion with anyone in- volved in the Danish pig industry.
I have heard of many farms where staff are ‘stuck’ in their home countries they were visit- ing since the closing of the borders (six weeks prior to writing).
The majority of mem- bers are either pig pro- ducers, managers or farm staff, however veterinar- ians, consultants and SEGES/ Landbrug og Fødevarer representatives are also active within the forums.
For some businesses, this has meant running on a skeleton staff and operating as they would during the heavy holiday periods, and this is un- likely to change until at least mid-May.
Producers have been sharing their staff man- agements strategies and supported each other within this forum, both in the sense of practical ad- vice (‘send as many pigs to slaughter earlier so you are two to three weeks ahead of delivery’), but also in terms of sharing their staff with those in need.
There have been some very misleading articles and campaigns released here with regard to the development of the pan- demic – specifically tar- geting climate change and animal production as the reason for this disease and its spread.
Despite the challenging circumstances currently being faced, it is encour- aging to see producers are able to support each other and continue to work together, not only to maintain pig production but also to keep unwanted diseases out of their herds.
Not surprisingly, the agenda of these cam- paigns is of course to en- courage a vegan lifestyle and producers have been warned to be particularly vigilant against animal activism.
Some activists have made their presence known on farms, which
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Australian Pork Newspaper, May 2020 – Page 5